The Loch Ness Monster's song

By Edwin Morgan (1990).

"'The Loch Ness Monster's Song' is an example of a performance piece. It absolutely demands to be read aloud, and the way the lines are set out, the spelling, the punctuation are all devised – even if it might not seem so at first glance – to help the performance. It needs a bit of practice, but it can be done, and although I have recorded the poem myself on tape, I would not want to say that there is only one way of reading it. Anyone can have a go – and enjoy it. Whether the Loch Ness Monster really exists or not – there is no clinching evidence – I imagine the creature coming to the surface of the water, looking round at the world, expressing his or her views, and sinking back into the loch at the end. I wanted to have a mixture of the bubbling, gurgling, plopping sounds of water and the deep gruff throaty sounds that a large acquatic monster might be expected to make. How much meaning comes through the sounds? I leave that to you!"

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